Garment hanger handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

Garment handling apparatus comprising a magazine which serves to feed a plurality of garment hangers and the like sequentially along an inclined path. A device is located at the end of the incline for receiving the individual garment hangers and is mounted on one end of a pivot arm which is rotatable about a stationary support. The receiving device comprises a holder means for receiving and holding the garment hangers and separate means for removing them into a collection device. The pivot arm is moved between a position in which the holder means receives the hangers and a position from which they are moved into the collection device.

14 1 Oct. 28, 1975 1 GARMENT HANGER HANDLING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Axel Stellan Thur; Karl Sture ,Wallin, both of Eskilstuna, Sweden [73] Assignee: Forenade Fabriksverken,

Stockholm, Sweden 22 Filed: Oct. 3, 1974 211 App]. No.: 511,636

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 9, 1973 Sweden 7313723 [52] US. Cl. 214/1 BD; 193/1; 198/24; 211/1.5; 221/195; 221/225; 221/312 A [51] Int. Cl. B65H 3/30 [58] Field of Search 211/15; 198/20 R, 24, 198/26; 193/1; 214/1 B, 1 BD, 8.5 K;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,930,510 3/1960 Pallissard 221/312 A Gehrke 186/16 Dekoekkoek 198/38 X Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner--David A. Scherbel Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Eric Y. Munson [57] ABSTRACT Garment handling apparatus comprising a magazine which serves to feed a plurality of garment hangers and the like sequentially along an inclined path. A device is located at the end of the incline for receiving the individual garment hangers and is mounted on one end of a pivot arm which is rotatable about a stationary support. The receiving device comprises a holder means for receiving and holding the garment hangers and separate means for removing them into a collection device. The pivot arm is moved between a position in which the holder means receives the hangers and a position from which they are moved into the collection device.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of 2 atent Oct. 28, 1975 Use US. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,915,313

GARMENT HANGER HANDLING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In cleaning establishments for cleaning articles of clothing and/or other fabric articles, said articles are usually treated in, for example, a steam-hot air chamber. The task of placing said articles into the chamber is normally effected manually and requires the articles, and also the supporting devices, such as hangers on which they are supported, to be moved both horizontally and vertically a repeated number of times, which is time consuming and laborious.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus capable of moving said supporting devices singularly to an article hanging station and to move the articles supported on respective supporting devices to, for example, a clothing stand, which may be connected to a socalled feed screw of a steam-hot air chamber.

Accordingly, this invention consists in handling apparatus comprising a magazine for a plurality of supporting devices, said magazine being arranged to feed said supporting devices singularly along an inclined path, wherein there is provided a supporting device receiving means which is arranged to receive said supporting devices singularly from said inclined path; a pivot arm which is arranged for rotation around a stationary support and one end of which carries said supporting device receiving means; a supporting device collecting means arranged to collect the supporting devices received in said supporting device receiving means; wherein the supporting device receiving means comprises a holder means for receiving and holding a supporting device and means for moving said supporting devices from said holder means; and wherein the pivot arm is capable of pivoting between a first position in which the holder means can receive a supporting device from said inclined path and a second position in which said moving means can move a supporting device from the holder means to the supporting device collecting means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically a charging device forming part of the supporting magazine according to the invention,

FIG. 3 shows a supporting device moving means forming part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through the line VV in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a coupling diagram of a pneumatically equipped apparatus according to the invention and also shows the time diagram for the three cylinders forming part of the apparatus according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERED EMBODIMENT The following description is made with reference to a clothes supporting device handling apparatus, although the invention is not restricted to such use, but may be applied in other fields where it is desired to move a suspended article singularly along a path from one place to another in a controlled manner.

In the illustrated embodiment there is arranged on a frame 1 a clothes hanger magazine 2 which is of known construction and which is adapted to advance clothes hangers singularly along an inclined path 3. The magazine 2 may be of the type shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2, comprising two movable contacts 4 and 5 which, by rotating a pin 6 by means of a cylinder 7 connected to the frame I can be caused to move relative to one another. In the position shown in FIG. 2, a hanger'8a is located in a charged position. Upon rotation of the pin 6 by the cylinder 7, the contact 4 is moved upwardly as seen in FIG. 2 while the contact 5 is moved downwardly, whereupon the hanger 8a slides past the contact 5 and down onto the inclined path 3. As the cylinder 7 returns, the contacts 4 and 5 again take the position shown in FIG. 2, whereupon a hanger 8b slides down into said charged position. The lowermost end of the inclined path 3 is provided with a U- shaped ear 3a, which is intended to prevent damage, for example, to the collars of jackets and the likehung on the hangers.

Adjacent the lower end of the inclined path 3 there is located a supporting device receiving means, hereinafter referred to as a hanger receiving means, comprising a rod 10 (FIGS. 1 and 3) of substantially circular cross-section. The rod 10 is provided with supporting device holding means or hanger holding means in the form of a transverse slot 11 formed in the circumference of the rod 10. The width of the slot 11 is insignificantly greater than the width or thickness of a hanger. In this way, when advancing a hanger from the magazine 2, a hanger from the inclined path 3 will slide down into a stable position in the slot. The rod 10 is also provided with a hanger moving plate 13 which is controlled by a cylinder 12 and arranged for sliding longitudinal movement along the rod 10, said moving plate being arranged to move said hanger in a subsequent step of a hanger handling operation.

The rod 10 is mounted on one end of a pivot arm 14. The arm 14 is mounted on a pin 15 in a bracket structure 16 which projects outwardly from a frame 17. The pivot arm 14 is arranged to be rotated by means of a cylinder 18 from a first position, in which a hanger is able to slide from the inclined path 3 down into the slot 11 in the rod 10, to a second position, in which the end surface '19 of the rod 11 is located opposite the end of an inclined second rod 20 arranged in the frame 17. On the rod 20 there is attached a substantially U-shaped block 21 which is arranged to facilitate the control and setting of a clothes rack 22. One side of the clothes rack 22 is capable of being lifted and lowered by means of a lifting device 23, which is not shown in detail.

The mode of operation of the apparatus is as follows.

When the apparatus is set into operation, there is located in the slot 11 a clothes hanger having an article of clothing supported thereon, the pivot arm 14 being in the lowermost position shown in FIG. 1. By activating a foot pedal 24 the piston in cylinder 18 is caused to move to the right in FIG. 5, whereupon the pivot arm 14 moves upwards. The hanger will then slide up out of the slot 11 to rest against the non-slotted portion 10a of the circumference of the rod 10 and adopt a labile position. When the pivot arm 14 strikes against a limit valve 25, the piston in cylinder 12 is moved to the right in FIG. 5, whereupon the hanger moving means 13 is moved to the left in FIG. 3, to displace the hanger resting against the edge 10a. In this position, the end surface 19 of the rod 11 is rotated opposite the end of the second rod 20, and hence the hanger displaced from the rod 10 slides down onto the rod 20 and further onto the clothes rack 22. A plate 26 is attached to the frame 17 for stopping the movement of the hanger.

In addition to movement of the piston of cylinder 12, when the pivot arm 14 strikes the limit valve 25 the cylinder 18 is activated, the piston of said cylinder moving to the left in FIG. whilst the pivot arm 14 is simultaneously lowered; also activated is the cylinder 7, the

piston of which is moved to the right in FIG. 5, whereupon the contacts 4 and 5 of the hanger magazine 2 take the charging position shown in FIG. 2. When the pivot arm 14 has reached the lower position it strikes a second limit valve 27, which causes the cylinder 12 to return the hanger moving means 13 to the position shown in FIG. 3 and causes the cylinder 7 to change the mutual position of the contacts 4 and 5 in the hanger magazine 2, thereby to cause a further hanger to be advanced on the inclined path 3 down into the slot 11 in the hanger receiving means. The cycle is now completed. A new cycle is commenced by activating the foot pedal 24.

The pneumatic equipment present in the pressure lines has not been shown in FIGS. 1-4, since it is obvious from the diagram shown in FIG. 5 to one of normal skill in the art how such pressure lines can be arranged.

With the aforedescribed embodiment, the pivot arm 14 is arranged to be rotated vertically. It is possible, however, to arrange for the pivot arm 14 to move horizontally instead. In this instance the holder means of the hanger receiving means does not have the form of a slot 11 but, for example, may have the form of a recess in rod which slopes from the end surface 19 of the rod 10 continuously downwards to the hanger moving means 13. This recess forms a slide surface for receiving a hanger. The hanger moving means 13 is then arranged to move along the recess, the direction of movement of said hanger moving means forming the same angle relative to the geometric axis of the rod 10 as said slide surface of said recess. It will be readily understood that with this embodiment the hanger moving means 13 may have a form different to that shown with the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4.

Although the apparatus according to the invention has been illustrated and described as being pneumatically controlled, it will be readily understood that the apparatus may be controlled in another way, for example, hydraulically or electrically.

We claim:

1. A handling apparatus comprising a magazine for a plurality of supporting devices, said magazine being arranged to feed said supporting devices singularly along an inclined path, wherein there is provided a supporting device receiving means which is arranged to receive said supporting devices singularly from said inclined path; a pivot arm which is arranged for rotation around a stationary support and one end of which carries said supporting device receiving means; a supporting device collecting means arranged to collect the supporting devices received in said supporting device receiving means; wherein the supporting device receiving means comprises a holder means for receiving and holding a supporting device and means for moving said supporting devices from said holder means; and wherein the pivot arm is capable of pivoting between a first position in which the holder means can receive a supporting device from said inclined path and a second position in which said moving means can move a supporting device from the holder means to the supporting device collecting means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supporting device receiving means comprises a first rod of substantially circular cross-sectional shape; wherein said holder means comprises a transversal slot formed along part of the circumference of the rod and having a width such that a supporting device can rest in a stable position therein when said pivot arm is located in said first position, the arrangement being such that rotation of the pivot arm to the second position causes a supporting device to slide up on the non-slotted portion of the circumference of the first rod to a labile position; and wherein the supporting device moving means comprises a plate arranged to slide along the rod and, when said supporting device takes said labile position, to move said supporting device from the supporting device receiving means to the supporting device collector means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein there is provided a first limit valve, said valve, as the pivot arm takes said second position, being arranged to cause a supporting device received in the supporting device receiving means to be moved by said supporting device moving means and to initiate rotation of the arm to the first position and to initiate a charging function of the supporting device magazine; and wherein there is also provided a second limit valve, said valve being arranged, upon the pivot arm taking said first position, to initiate a return movement of the supporting device moving means and to initiate advancement of a supporting device from the supporting device magazine to the inclined path.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein there is provided a pedal, such as a foot pedal, and a cylinder, which cylinder is arranged to rotate the pivot arm from the first to the second position upon activation of said pedal. 

1. A handling apparatus comprising a magazine for a plurality of supporting devices, said magazine being arranged to feed said supporting devices singularly along an inclined path, wherein there is provided a supporting device receiving means which is arranged to receive said supporting devices singularly from said inclined path; a pivot arm which is arranged for rotation around a stationary support and one end of which carries said supporting device receiving means; a supporting device collecting means arranged to collect the supporting devices received in said supporting device receiving means; wherein the supporting device receiving means comprises a holder means for receiving and holding a supporting device and means for moving said supporting devices from said holder means; and wherein the pivot arm is capable of pivoting between a first position in which the holder means can receive a supporting device from said inclined path and a second position in which said moving means can move a supporting device from the holder means to the supporting device collecting means.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supporting device receiving means comprises a first rod of substantially circular cross-sectional shape; wherein said holder means comprises a transversal slot formed along part of the circumference of the rod and having a width such that a supporting device can rest in a stable position therein when said pivot arm is located in said first position, the arrangement being such that rotation of the pivot Arm to the second position causes a supporting device to slide up on the non-slotted portion of the circumference of the first rod to a labile position; and wherein the supporting device moving means comprises a plate arranged to slide along the rod and, when said supporting device takes said labile position, to move said supporting device from the supporting device receiving means to the supporting device collector means.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein there is provided a first limit valve, said valve, as the pivot arm takes said second position, being arranged to cause a supporting device received in the supporting device receiving means to be moved by said supporting device moving means and to initiate rotation of the arm to the first position and to initiate a charging function of the supporting device magazine; and wherein there is also provided a second limit valve, said valve being arranged, upon the pivot arm taking said first position, to initiate a return movement of the supporting device moving means and to initiate advancement of a supporting device from the supporting device magazine to the inclined path.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein there is provided a pedal, such as a foot pedal, and a cylinder, which cylinder is arranged to rotate the pivot arm from the first to the second position upon activation of said pedal. 